Vestibular Disease

[daubie]

I'm looking for some help on vestibular disease. My cat spend 2 nites at a vet. hospital last weekend. Brought him home, and he is still so sick. Can hardly make it to the kitty litter. We keep him in a large cage when we're not at home. Today he vomited. He has lost so much weight. It really breaks my heart to watch him being so disoriented, and weak. Doc said there is nothing to do but wait it out. Any suggestions??? Thanks

[jason]

afraid i am out of my league on this one...did a quick search and found this site.

the site mentions some treatment with diphenhydramine at 2-4 mg/kg every 8 hours as needed. has it been determined the cause (like bacteria) of this?

[kate & kobi]

I can't help with vestibular disease either, but I would call another vet right away and get a second opinion. It sounds to me like your vet either didn't explain everything to you well enough or just doesn't have your confidence. Be proactive about all your kitty's treatment and get more information!

Good luck and I hope your kitty feels better soon.

[Traci]

What diagnostics were done, and how was treatment approached during those nine days in the clinic?

If your vet is not well-versed in this condition, I would suggest a second opinion ASAP, on the offchance something has been undetected (i.e., serology was not performed to rule out infectious, fungal disease, inner ear polyp not detected, toxicology to rule out potential toxins, etc)

[Auntie Debbie]

Hi,
Sorry your kitty has this condition. My Sals went through Vestibular Disease a few years ago due to a nasty innner ear infection. Long story short, my usual vet kept overlooking possible ear infection since she wasn't showing any debris. Eventually she did and 5 vets later she was on the road to recovery, but not before something went wrong (either one vet poked her ear in a bad spot or the panalog triggered the ataxia). With Baytril for the infection and prednisolone for the inflammation and alot of TLC she recovered fully in about 8 weeks.
Vestibular disease is a loss of equilibrium much like what you may experience on your worst hangover or a result of your own ear infections, if you've had either. The room will be spinning for your kitty and he nay have nystagmus (eye twitching back and forth). Your vet may be able to prescribe some dramamine for motion control (I've read where some dog owners were able to give it to their dogs-please consult with your vet before administering any OTC meds to your cat).
One of the main causes for Vestibular Disease is inner ear infections, which was the case with my cat. Other causes would be ear polyps and other ear related problems, brain tumors, toxins, an array of central nervous disorders, to name a few.
Please review the sites on Vestibular Disease, Head Tilt and Ataxia on the following site:
http://www.geocities.com/debbielinklett ... Page3.html

If you haven't already consulted another vet, please do so. Some of the diagnositcs that should be performed would be an ear culture to rule out infection, x-rays (for brain tumors and other ear related problems), blood work and a uurinalysis. If your vet hasn't performed any of these, please, please get your kitty to another vet soon.

There are things that you can do to help your kitty through this. Keep his food and water and hear level so he won't have to bob up and down to feed and drink. This will alleviate some of the dizziness incurred while eating. If he really just can't eat on his own, please syringe feed him yourself. I did this with my cat for about the first week. Your vet can give you some special pliable food, water it down a bit and feed him periodically throughout the day. You can tempt him with special foods like lunchmeat, heat his regular food so the aroma makes it more enticing, or feed him whatever treats he likes. He must eat or he could develop hepatic lipidosis (a very serious liver condition). Keeping him confined while unattended is good so he won't attempt to jump on something, He will likely not make it.
On your part, you must be patient. I saw the biggest improvement the first week of my cat being treated with the meds. After that it was a very slow improvement pace. But first you must know what the cause is. And there are times that it is just idiopathic and it is just a question of time before the cat will get better. One thing to keep in mind is that there may be a bit of a remaining head tilt. This will not be a problem as the cat will learn to compensate for it. My cat has a slight one. It has no impact on her running or scaling the kitchen counter. She just looks a bit determined when she walks. Her eyesight is right on the money.
I hope your kitty will be properly diagnosed and will recover soon. I know what you're going through and how hard it is to watch them stagger about. Please let us know how he is doing, ok?

[daubiedo]

Hi everyone. Just wanted to say thanks for the replys. Kitty is doing better today, seems to have gotten some strength back. Saturday was awful and I felt so bad for him. Yesterday he just layed around, couldn't even get up to use the litter box. Today however, he has a lot more energy and is walking around in circles, and he's eating more. I have been hand feeding him and I do put everything right in front of him. They did diagnose him as idiopathic, although they gave me some antibiotics for a possible ear infection (slightly elev. temp.). Anyway, thanks again for the support, suggestions, and websites (I read them all).

One more question. My cat is an indoor/outdoor cat. I'm thinking he needs to be an indoor cat only, because if this happens again (likely from what I read) and he was outside and got disoriented, I could lose him. Any thoughts???

Thanks again, I truly appreciate the support.

[jason]

One more question. My cat is an indoor/outdoor cat. I'm thinking he needs to be an indoor cat only

may want to do some searching on this board, but there are many reasons to keep this kitty indoors in addition to what your thinking. please do make the effort for him, his health depends on it.

thanks for the update and continue keeping all eyes on him for any changes while keeping your vet in the loop.

[kate & kobi]

I think you'll find that most people on this board will wholeheartedly support your decision to make your kitty (what's his name?) an indoor-only cat.

[Auntie Debbie]

I'm so glad your kitty is doing a bit better, but please remmember it may be a long haul before he's completely well again, so have lots and lots of patience.
Please tell me what diagnostics your vet performed to diagnose he has Vestibular Disease. Idoipathic is usually ruled once all tests have proved inconclusive of anything else. It often a symptom of another ongoing condition such as an inner ear infection. If the original condition is not treated properly, the Vestibualr disease can continue and/or come back and the original condition will remain and possibly worsen.
I am glad that you've decided to make in an innie only. If you go to the left side of the board, under Favorites, click onto Debbie's Feline Health. Under the Feline section I have some links under "Indoor Cats" that you may find helpful in convincing him that indoors is best.
I hiope he will continue to improve and please keep us posted and let us know what your vet has done in testing him....ppplllleeeaaasssseee??? And give him a big kitty kiss for me!